Along Came Sophie
by LaceyoftheTypewriter
Summary: Dean's still fighting supernatural crime with Sam when a pretty young plot twist named Sophie Gardner shows up claiming to be Dean's 15-year-old daughter. As she worms her way into his heart, he comes to realize what exactly he's been missing, and how hard it'll be to fix what's broken.
1. Chapter 1: Taken

_Chapter 1: Taken_

"Sam, a little help here!" Dean yelled out, holding the vampire's head back at arms length as she bared her sharp teeth and snarled at him. Dean tried to reach the long knife that was just a hairsbreadth away from his fingertips, but he couldn't quite grasp it, and the vampire's strength wasn't waning.

He looked over at Sam, who was battling another vampire, one of the group that had been terrorizing a small town in North Carolina. Sam was moments away from finally decapitating the bastard, and Dean watched as his brother lashed out at the vampire with his weapon and the monster's head toppled listlessly and bloodily to the floor.

The vampire Dean was fighting off heard the thump of her companion's head hit the ground, and she turned around, her blonde curls whipping Dean in the face. "Travis!" she screamed, her teeth retracting back into her gums. "Travis, no!"

Dean took the opportunity to lunge to the side and grab his weapon, and the vampire whipped back around and opened her mouth, hissing as she made for his neck. It was too late for her, though, and soon her head was rolling on the floor next to her supposed lover's.

Dean pushed her body off of his. "I freaking hate vampires," he exclaimed. Sam walked over and helped him to his feet.

"I'm not exactly a fan of them either. At least we finally wasted the rest of this group."

"You're telling me. If we had to spend another day in this dopey little down I'd have gone stir crazy."

Sam grinned as they began to walk out of the abandoned farmhouse the vampire herd had been holed up in. "You passed stir crazy four days ago, Dean."

"Well I say we spend the night, hit up that diner with the hot waitress tomorrow morning, and then get the hell out of Dodge," Dean said as they neared his Impala and he took out his keys.

"Sounds good to me," Sam said, sliding into the passenger seat as Dean cranked the car up. Led Zeppelin's "Black Dog" began to blast through the speakers, and Dean yelled along with it as Sam closed his eyes and tried to rest.

* * *

Dean was the first to wake up the next morning. It was bright out, and when Dean turned over to look at the dusty alarm clock supplied by the crappy motel they'd set up camp in he saw that it was nine in the morning, later than they'd slept in during their entire stay in North Carolina. He groaned and rolled over, stretching out his aching muscles. He was getting too old for this. Sure, he was still young and dashing by the standards of the world, but for a hunter, he was starting to feel the repercussions of constantly battling the monsters of the world.

He sat up and cracked his back and watched as Sam rolled over, opening his eyes. "Dude," Sam grumbled, rubbing his face with his hands. "What time is it?"

"Nine," Dean said, grabbing a T-shirt off the ground and throwing it on. "That diner is calling my name, Sammy, so put some pep in that step."

"I think you mean that _waitress_ is calling your name," he groaned, sitting up and cracking his back just as Dean had.

"Call it what you will, we've got to go. I think her shift ends at ten thirty."

Sam groaned and began to get dressed, and forty-five minutes later all of their research, clothes, weapons, and trash had been picked up from the motel and they were ready to clear out.

"You know, Dean," Sam said as they threw their bags into the back of the Impala, "we've stayed in some crappy hotels, but we reached a new low with this place."

"It was practically free," Dean defended.

"Yeah, I know," Sam said, sliding into the passenger seat as Dean made his way into the driver's seat. "But next time I say we take the motel that's ten dollars more a night and gives us running water."

"Look, we'll find a better place tonight and take a decent shower. Until then, stop bitching and let's go get some breakfast."

Sam just gave Dean an annoyed look as they pulled out of the parking spot and made the two minute drive to Deirdre's Diner, a little hole in the wall diner that they had been frequenting for the week and a half they'd been in town. Dean had declared that the diner had the best pancakes in America, but Sam doubted that was a genuine compliment, seeing as he had given it just after the hot waitress had bent down and revealed her cleavage to him.

Inside, Dean and Sam took their usual seat in the back corner of the diner, and Dean eyed the menu. "I'm feeling like I want a celebratory All Star combo," he declared.

"You always feel like that," Sam pointed out.

"Yeah, but today I've got something to back it up with. We just took out a murderous pack of bloodsuckers, Sam. Enjoy it."

At that moment, the waitress came up to the table, her shirt unbuttoned to the point where the top of her leopard print bra was visible. She had glittery eyeshadow and stick straight black hair. "Well, hello again, boys. What will it be this morning?"

Dean shot her his try-hard smile. "I'll have the All Star special, with scrambled eggs and hashbrowns and a coffee."

She wrote it down, grinning. "Hardy breakfast," she noted.

"I'm a hardy man," Dean replied, winking at her.

She grinned slyly and looked at Sam, who had mock-gagged into his hand. "And you?" she asked, a little more coldly. Apparently his gesture had not gone unnoticed.

"I'll just have a coffee," Sam replied.

"I'll have that right out for you guys," she said, quickly walking away.

Dean glared at Sam. "Dude. That was my chance and you chose that moment to fake gag?"

"Pathetic isn't a good look on you," Sam said.

The bell rang signaling someone walking into the diner. Dean glanced up and saw a short, petite teenage girl walking in, her strawberry blonde hair braided into pigtails. He turned his head back to his brother, his interest gone after realizing she was young enough to be his daughter. "Look, I've got a chance of a raw and gritty back alley hookup before we hit the road. Why would you deprive me of this?"

"Look at that waitress, Dean. She's a walking STD."

"That's a little harsh, coming from the man who's banged werewolves and demons."

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed. "_A _werewolf and _a _demon. Not plural."

"Look, the fact that you even have to defend yourself is not a good sign. I just want a good, human screw-fest. Is that so wrong?"

There was another chime, and Dean looked over and saw a man walk in. He was tall and buff, with slick blonde hair and a large overcoat. Something about him looked very familiar, but Dean couldn't put his finger on it. Something in the shape of his nose, in the curve of his mouth.

The man turned slightly, and Dean could see a gun clipped to his pants underneath his coat. Immediately, his jokes were thrown aside. "Sam," he said under his breath. "Don't turn around. The man who just walked in is packing."

"What?" Sam asked. "Do we know him?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I feel like I've seen him before."

Suddenly the man pulled out his gun. "Oh, no," Dean muttered.

"Everybody, get down!" the man yelled. Sam whipped his head around and stared at the man. There were a few screams, and a baby started crying. "I said, get down! Heads on the ground!"

Everyone was suddenly down to the ground, except for Dean and Sam. They stood up.

"Hey, man," Dean said, lifting his hands up. "You don't want to do this."

The man grinned. "Mr. Winchester," he said greasily, and he flashed Dean a smile. Suddenly, a pair of vampire fangs slipped out of his gums, and then they quickly slid back in before anyone else could see. Dean suddenly knew where he'd seen the man before. He looked uncannily like the blonde vampire they'd killed the night before, like he could be her father. "You took something of mine."

At the sound of Dean's name, the girl who had walked in earlier lifted up her head from the ground, slowly. She stared at Dean, a look of terror and disbelief in her eyes. Dean looked back, fearing for the lives of everyone in the diner. "You want me? Fine. Just put the gun down and don't hurt anyone here, okay?" Dean said, taking a step forward.

"Dean," Sam said in a low voice. "What are you doing?"

The vampire shook his head. "Sorry, Winchester. You're not what I want right now."

He lunged forward and grabbed the teenage girl off of the ground. She cried out as the man pulled her close against him, the gun pressed against her temple. She was shaking, and her eyes were wide with terror.

Dean took another step forward. "Don't hurt her," he said calmly. "She's just a kid. Put the gun down and take me, okay? Let her be."

"I'll be in touch to let you know where I am," he said, and the girl whimpered as he drew circles on her skin with the tip of the gun. "There, there, sweetheart, there's no need to fear. Unless, of course, you're afraid of agonizing pain. In which case...well, maybe you should fear just a smidge." He smiled, his nose at her neck as he breathed in, and the girl began to shake. Dean felt a rush of anger fly through him. "Now that right there is a sweet smelling girl," he breathed, grinning viciously. "I'll see you around, Winchester. Don't show up, and Sophie here dies."

With that, he grabbed the girl by her hair and, with his gun aimed at her head, dragged her out of the diner.

Everyone began panicking, pulling out their phones and dialing 911, and Sam and Dean quickly slipped out of the diner, looking up and down the street for the vampire and the girl, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Damn it!" Dean yelled.

"We'll find him," Sam said, looking over at his brother. "Tonight. We'll go find him and we'll kill him."

"Sam, that girl's just a kid!"

"We'll save her, Dean. He has no reason to hurt her."

"No? I mean she's his meal of choice, so I can't see any reason that would be a conflict," Dean snapped, turning and walking towards the Impala.

"Dean, just relax for a moment."

"Relax? Sam, he looked like he wanted to torture her. She can't be more than sixteen."

"We'll find her," Sam said as they arrived at the Impala. "But first we need to find out about this vampire. And why the hell he'd take that girl. And how he knew who she was."

"So I guess we need to figure out who she is," Dean said, calming down a little bit as he slid into the driver's seat. "All we've got is a name. Sophie."

"We've got a name and a high school, Dean."

Dean turned towards his brother. "What?"  
"Didn't you see her backpack? It said Our Lady of Fatima Catholic High. I'm betting it was her school."

Dean shook his head, giving a slightly victorious smirk. "Sometimes I wonder how I spent years hunting without you and your attention to detail."

"I don't either. You're honestly pathetic without me."

"Whatever. To the library we go," he said, starting the car. "Damn it, I hate it every time I say that."

"Don't stress yourself too much, you know you'll be sleeping most of the time."

"What can I say, you're the nerdy one."

**Comment, favorite, follow, and let me know if I should continue and where you'd like to see the story go! ~ Lacey :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Call

_Chapter 2: The Call_

Hours later, Dean was slamming his head against a dusty book while Sam stared diligently at the computer. "Dude," Dean said, his voice muffled by the book. "Do you know how many Sophies go to the ten different Our Lady of Fatimas in the country?"

"A lot," Sam admitted. "But if you narrow it to only the high school's on this side of the country, there's only about twenty."

"Are there pictures?"

"For some," he said. "None of which appear to be our Sophie."

"Damn it," Dean said. He paused for a moment, staring at the book. "What's a teenage girl doing alone in this random city in North Carolina anyway? Her school's not here, and as far as we've heard the police know as much about the girl as we do."

"Could be a runaway," Sam said.

"Wonderful," Dean groaned. Then his head shot up. "Try missing persons."

"What?"

"You said yourself she could be a runaway. Try missing persons."

Sam nodded and began typing away furiously on the computer, and then he grinned. "Got her."

Dean moved over to look at the screen. "Sophia Gardner. Reported missing by her friend Patrick Little two weeks ago. Last seen wearing jeans, boots, a green jacket, and a pink beanie. She's fifteen, a sophomore at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic High School in Apex, North Carolina."

"Reported missing by a friend and not her parents?" Sam said. "Odd."

"Says she lives with her stepfather."

"That it?"

"From what I can tell," Dean said, sitting back in his chair.

Sam shook his head, leaning forward. "Hold on, let me see if I can get some more on her." Sam continued typing away as Dean waited impatiently. "Yep, here we...ah."

"What?" Dean interjected.

"Guess her stepfather got custody of her after her mother was killed in a car accident a year and a half ago. No father in the picture, as far as I can tell. Maybe she didn't get along with her stepfather and decided to leave."

"Well, she should've stayed with him," Dean muttered. "So how does this vampire know her?"

"You've got me there. I have no clue. It could be anything."

At that moment, Dean's phone began ringing. A librarian ten feet away from them gave them an evil look, which Dean ignored as he pulled out his phone. He didn't recognize the number. "Hello?"

"Mr. Winchester!" At the sound of the familiar voice, Dean's blood ran hot with anger and the desire to kill. "I told you I'd give you some details on where I'm keeping pretty Sophie."

"Cut the crap," Dean snapped, trying to keep his voice down. "Where are you?"

"The same place you murdered my daughter last night," the vampire hissed. "The same place I'm going to murder this girl. Unless you care to try and stop me."

"Why her?" Dean asked. "How do you know her?"

There was a shuffle in the background, and his voice traveled farther away from the phone. "Stupid bitch, I told you not to make a sound!" There was the sound of someone being slapped hard, and a tiny female cry, and then the vampire's voice shifted back towards the phone. "The question you should be asking yourself, Mr. Winchester," the vampire sneered, "is how do _you _know her."

With that, he hung up, and Dean looked at Sam, a tightness in his throat that he couldn't explain. "He gave us the location."

"And?"

"Same place I killed his daughter."

"His daughter?" Sam reiterated. "Who...oh. The blonde vamp."

Dean nodded. "I guess this is his twisted eye for an eye revenge. Except I don't have a daughter, so he takes a random girl to be my punishment." He shook his head. "That girl is being tortured because of me."

"No. Because _we _didn't realize _we_ missed one of the sons of bitches in this town."

"Whatever," Dean said, shaking his head. "Either way, I say we go now. If he's not there, we can scope it out, and if he is we'll have a better chance in the daylight."

"Not much of a better chance," Sam noted. "It's so overcast today that he was able to walk into that diner without getting hurt at all."

"Still, we'll be able to see better than him, instead of the other way around."

"Alright. Fine. Let's go."

**Feedback is much appreciated! Review, favorite, follow, whatever you want! Thank you! ~ Lacey :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Eye for an Eye

_Chapter 3: Eye for an Eye_

The warehouse was dingy and dark despite the sun being out. Sam and Dean crept through it, long blades in their hands, vigilant and silent as they made their way through the same halls they'd snuck through the night before.

"What do you think that son of a bitch has done to her?" Dean asked quietly as they made he way through the building.

"I think we shouldn't think about it. All we need to worry about is that she's alive and we have to get her out that way," Sam said.

"I'm getting sick of vampires," Dean said after a moment's thought.

"Yeah, well, I'm getting sick of lots of things," Sam replied. "Your mopey, girly attitude included."

"Let's just gank this vamp and save the girl," Dean grumbled.

They kept moving, scoping the place out and trying to be as quiet as possible. After about ten minutes, Sam stuck his arm out and stopped Dean, placing a finger to his lips. "Hear that?" he whispered.

Dean craned his head, and soon enough he heard what Sam was hearing. It was the faint, faint voice of the evil bastard, talking in a slimy tone.

"Sophia, now, you know if you move it hurts more."

A small voice responded, obviously weakened and in pain. "Please, no more. Please." Dean's heart jumped to his throat.

"So sorry, sweetheart. The more you bleed, the easier it is to keep you here. And I have this idea the Winchesters aren't going to keep me waiting."

Dean started forward, but Sam held him back, shaking his head. "He could kill her if we just barge in there," he breathed. Dean clenched his teeth, but he didn't move again.

"What do you want from me?" they heard Sophie ask, her voice shaking.

"Nothing. I want you as bait."

"Then why are you hurting me?" she asked. "Why not throw me in a corner and leave me to rot?"

"Because I'm a vampire, sweetheart. I get hungry. And quite frankly, the thought of you in pain makes me very, very happy."

There was the sound of a knife being pulled from some sort of metal casing, and Dean closed his eyes as the girl began to plead. "No, please, please don't, no—" Her words were cut off with a scream, which caused Dean and Sam to visibly flinch. Her scream was suddenly muffled, and they could hear her cries diminish as they were covered up.

"As much as I love to hear you scream, darling Sophia, we can't have that anymore. I have a feeling the Winchester brothers are going to show up at any moment." There was a brief moment of silence, and then there was a muffled sound of Sophie making a disgusted cry, and then the vampire sighing in satisfaction. "Your blood tastes divine, child. I really must start drinking from younglings more often, you taste so...fresh. I bet if I bled you from other places it would taste even sweeter."

Dean was surprised when Sam broke before he did. Before he could do anything, his brother was barreling into the room. Dean hopped up and brandished his knife. "Damn it," he growled as he followed his brother through the door.

He froze as soon as he entered, surveying the scene in front of him. Sam was on the ground on the other side of the room, clutching his head, which was bleeding. It looked like he'd been thrown into a wall. Sophie's hands were chained above her head and her feet were locked to the ground, and there was blood running down her neck in a heavy stream. Less concerning were the bruises and scrapes on her arms and face, but they still acted effectively as fuel for Dean's anger.

The vampire was standing over Sam's practically immobile body. "I was wondering if you two were out there. You had me worried for a moment."

"Just cut the girl down and then we can start talking about your many, many issues," Dean said, glancing at Sophie nervously. She had been gagged, and she was losing blood, quickly. She lifted her head weakly and made eye contact with Dean. There was something so familiar about her gaze, but Dean didn't dwell on that. He needed to save her, and fast.

"I don't think so," the vampire said, walking over to Sophie and brushing some stray hairs out of her face. She turned her face away from his hand and he grabbed her chin, yanking it back towards him. "Sophia, stop it. What did I say about behaving?" She glared at him and tried to pull her head away, but the vampire was much stronger than she was. He leaned down and licked some of the blood off of her neck as she whimpered into her gag. "Delicious," he noted.

Dean stepped forward with his knife. "Get your hands off of her."

The vampire lifted his head up from Sophie's neck, but he kept her face in his hand. "Aren't you going to ask why?

"Why what? Why you're an evil dickbag? Not my problem. My problem is that you're still alive."

"Not what I meant," the vampire said. "Don't you want to know why I chose her?"

Dean froze. "What the hell do you mean?"

"Sophie here...she's special. See, you killed my daughter, Margo. She was my world. My everything. It's why I turned her once I figured out what I was, so that she could stay with me forever. And you killed her like it was nothing. So I made some calls and did some snooping. I've been around for a while; I have high friends in high places. And lo and behold, I found something of Dean Winchester's that even he didn't know he had, not more than a mile away from where I was."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean exclaimed.

The vampire pulled a small knife out of his pocket and slowly slid it down the back of Sophie's shirt. She whimpered as he ripped what was left of her shirt off of her body, leaving her in a black bra and a flimsy white tanktop. "This beautiful, breathing blood bag I have strung up here," the vampire sneered, tracing his knife up and down Sophie's arms, "is connected to you." He let the tip of the knife sink slowly into Sophie's left shoulder and she screamed out, the majority of her cries caught by the gag. Dean lunged forward, but the vampire shook his head. "No, no," he said, yanking the knife out of her skin and placing it at her throat and leaving a line of her own blood on her neck. "I don't think so."

Dean caught himself, slowing. "Fine," he said, trying to breathe evenly. "Okay. Don't hurt her."

"Already have, Winchester. You're dumber than you look."

"Why are we connected?" Dean asked, ignoring the jibe. "Why did you take her?"

"Isn't it obvious? Can't you tell by the way she won't shut up and glares at anything that breathes?"

Dean just stared at him, confused.

The vampire laughed. "You honestly don't know?" When Dean didn't respond, his laughter multiplied. He guffawed as Sophie continued to bleed out, her head sinking onto her shoulder in exhaustion. "You really don't see it, do you? What's right in front of your eyes? Winchester, she's your daughter. Your own flesh and blood. She's your daughter, and I'm going to kill her, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Dean stared at the vampire like he was crazy. "You're delusional," he spat. "There's no way in hell I have a daughter. You just want revenge, and you'll go to any lengths to get it."

"Oh, but Sophia here is your daughter. And you know what's even better? She knows it. She was in town looking for you. Isn't that right, darling?"

Dean was surprised to see tears begin to leak out of Sophie's eyes. Not that he would've been surprised to see a teenage girl crying in the kind of situation she was in now, but the fact that she hadn't been crying at all until the vampire brought up the topic of him made it suspicious enough. She mumbled something, but it was inaudible. The vampire sighed. "Guess we need to take this off and save us all the trouble." He yanked off he gag and Sophie gasped as she inhaled a breath of air. "Now, Sophia, please tell Mr. Winchester here why you came." She looked like she could barely talk, and Dean was starting to get very worried about all of the blood running down from her neck and shoulder. "I said talk!" The vampire yelled, slapping her across the face.

"Hey!" Dean yelled, taking another step forward. "You hurt her one more time and I kill you, bloodbath or not!"

"You're spouting out nonsense you don't mean," the vampire replied, grinning. "Now, Sophia. Talk."

She opened her mouth, shut it, and then opened it again. "I think... I think I'm your daughter. I guess I could be wrong," she said with exhaustion in her voice. "My mother said my father's name was Dean, and that he traveled a lot. She said he had a brother he always talked about but she never met. She said I h-had his...his eyes." She trailed off, tears falling down her face, her breathing becoming more labored.

The vampire grinned and stroked Sophie's cheek right where he had just hit her. "Come on now, Sophia, tell the good man your mother's name."

Sophie sniffed, trying to reign in her tears. "Caroline. Caroline G-Gardner."

Dean's head snapped up to full attention. Caroline Gardner. But...no...no, there wasn't a chance...

The vampire didn't think so. "Well, what do you know. The lightbulb has finally been lit."

"Let her go," Dean said in a lethal, low voice, a vein of anger pulsing through his body. No matter what the truth was, Sophie was being tortured because of him, and he wasn't about to let anything else happen to her because of him. "Let her go or I swear I will disembowel you and fry you in the sun before I finally chop off your head."

"But we were having so much fun!" the vampire laughed. Dean saw Sam move out of the corner of his eye, and he realized he needed to distract the monster so that Sam could have a clear shot if he could muster the strength.

At that moment, Sophie's head collapsed onto her shoulder, and she was completely unconscious, blood dripping from her nose and the corner of her mouth.

Dean saw the opportunity.

"You killed her!" he exclaimed. "You son of a bitch, you killed her!"

The vampire grinned. "She's not dead. I can hear her heartbeat."

"Check her pulse then."

He shrugged. "If I must."

As the vampire bent to check her pulse, Sam leaped up from the ground, wincing because of a gash on his head, and without even thinking swung his sword at the vampire's neck.

And, like the end of a terrible nightmare, the son of a bitch's head rolled onto the floor and his body collapsed, and just as quickly as he'd blinked he was dead. It was almost too successful to be possible.

Dean stared at the body for a second, as if to assure himself the bastard was dead, and then he looked at Sam. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said. "Looks worse than it is."

Dean nodded, and then he stepped towards Sophie. He tried to push everything that had been said to the back of his mind. "Help me get her down," he said.

"We're going to need bolt cutters," Sam pointed out. "Those are solid chains. One second, I'll be right back, I think I saw some on the way in."

As he hurried out of the room, Sophie's eyelids fluttered, and as she tried to lift her head she moaned.

"Hey, hey take it easy," Dean said. "Don't move."

"Where's...where's the...the..."

"He's dead. Don't worry, we're going to get you down."

"Hurts..."

"I know, I know," Dean said, wanting to punch something. "I know, we're going to get you some help okay. Just hold on."

Sam rushed back in, a pair of bolt cutters in his hand. Dean didn't bother to ask where he'd gotten them, and soon Sam was breaking the chains from the ceiling and Sophie collapsed into Dean's outstretched arms with a pained cry.

"It's okay," Dean said. "It's okay, I've gotcha. I've gotcha, you hear? I'm gonna make sure you're safe. You're going to be okay." He lowered her to the ground. "Sam, you've got to get the chains off her wrists and ankles."

"On it," Sam said.

As he set to work, he realized Sophie was shaking, which was when he remembered the bastard had torn off her shirt. Once her shackles were gone, he quickly removed his thick jacket and wrapped it around Sophie's shoulders, trying not to cringe at the idea of his favorite jacket being soaked in blood. Without another word, he lifted the girl up into his arms, alarmed to see she had passed out again. "We've got to get her to a hospital, fast."

"The shortest way back to the car is the way we came, come on," Sam said. Dean clutched Sophie to his chest and quickly followed Sam back out to where they'd parked the car. The sun was just starting to sink in the sky, casting an orange glow across them. It made Sophie's strawberry blonde hair look on fire, and the blood on her body looked about ten shades brighter, crimson red.

"You take her," Dean said as they neared the Impala. "I drive faster than you."

"Alright, hand her over."

Dean gently passed the unconscious Sophie to Sam, whose head gently fell on his chest, and he looked down at her face in consternation. Dean pulled his keys out of his pocket and then looked back at his brother. "Well, damn, Sam, are you going to stare at her all night or are you going to get in the freaking car?"

Sam looked up, clearing his throat. "Sorry, Dean, it's just...she could be my niece. Family."

Dean felt like a lightning bolt hit him, but he just shook his head. "We don't know that. Now c'mon, we've got to go before she bleeds out."

Sam nodded, ducking into the back seat with Sophie in his arms as Dean slid into the driver's seat, cranking the car up and screeching out of the parking lot, going from zero to fifty in no time at all.

As they drove perilously down the street, Sam kept pushing Sophie's hair out of her face and watching as it fell back across her eyes. Dean watched them in the rear view for a moment. "Seriously, dude, that's getting creepy."

"Dean. She could be your daughter. She could be my niece."

"We're not having this discussion."

"She even looks a bit like you," Sam tried again.

"Look, there's no way in hell. Just stop talking, try to keep her warm and put pressure on her neck, and let me get us to a hospital."

Sam looked unwilling to end the conversation, but he kept his mouth shut as Dean sped towards the nearest hospital. They arrived in less than ten minutes, and the moment the car stopped Sam was opening the door and hauling Sophie out. Dean followed them through the entrance to the emergency room and almost immediately they were bombarded by nurses. Clearly, Sophie's condition made her a top priority. In almost a blink of an eye, she was transferred from Sam's arms to a stretcher and before they could do anything she was being wheeled away.


	4. Chapter 4: Night Shift

_Chapter 4: Night Shift_

Sam looked over at Dean, who was watching Sophie as she disappeared behind double doors. "Dude. You okay?"

Dean ripped his eyes away from the scene and back towards his brother. "Yeah. I'm good. We should go."

Sam looked shocked. "Go? Dean...don't you think you should stay?"

"Why? And let this girl think I'm her father? I don't think so."

Sam didn't look convinced. "Is it so crazy to think you could've fathered a child amid all your years of sleeping around?"

"Yes," Dean snapped. "I'm a careful person. Besides, there's no way I have a daughter named Sophie. If I had a daughter she'd have a much more badass name, like Joan or Zelda. I am _not _the father of a Sophie."

Sam rolled his eyes. "I saw your face when she said her mom's name. You knew her, didn't you?"

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Sam, it doesn't matter. Look what happened to her already because of me. Acknowledging that I could actually be her father, that'd paint an even bigger target on her back. How many people and monsters want me dead? How many would love to kill anyone related to me? So no, I'm not staying. She's better off without me."

"Dean—"

"Sam, this isn't up for discussion!" Dean snapped. "C'mon, let's get out of here before nurses start asking questions."

Sam looked like he wanted to protest, but he also seemed to see where Dean was coming from. And while part of him wanted to get to know this girl who might be his blood, he also didn't want her to get hurt anymore. And so he simply left his cell number with a nurse who promised to call and let him know how Sophie was doing, and then the Winchester brothers slid into the Impala and headed to their motel for the night.

* * *

Sam and Dean had finally fallen to sleep after hours of struggling with the events of the night, only to be woken up an hour later by the wailing of Sam's phone.

Dean's loud groan filled the room. "What part of no phones till sunrise don't you understand, Sam!" he yelled into his pillow.

Sam rolled over, his head aching from where Dean had stitched up his forehead. He grabbed his phone to see who was calling. "It's the hospital," he said, his brain clearing a little bit.

Dean's head shot up. "You gave them your number?"

"So I wanted to know if the kid was okay. Sue me." He answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Mr. Page?"

"This is he."

"This is Nurse Odom, you gave me your number so I could call you and tell you how the girl you dropped off earlier was doing."

"Yes, of course," Sam said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "How is she?"

"She's doing well. She's asleep right now, but she'll make a full recovery. We just had a few questions for you that she hasn't been...willing to answer."

"What's that?"

"Well firstly...her name."

Sam was surprised. "She didn't tell you her name?"

"No. She refused to, actually. Wouldn't break no matter how many times we asked her. She seems scared of something."

"Well, I'd think so. She was just attacked."

"Of course, but generally victims are willing to at least give their names to doctors. She's refusing to."

"Do you know why?" Sam asked.

"She keeps saying that if someone finds out where she is they'll kill her." Sam's eyes narrowed a bit. "Obviously she's very stressed out about what happened and nobody can actually get to her in the hospital, but we were wondering if she gave you her name so we can try to notify the family."

Sam's response was purely reactionary. "I'm sorry, no, she never did tell us her name. My brother and I found her unconscious like that." Dean's head snapped up, and he mouthed _What _in Sam's direction.

The nurse sighed. "Oh well. We'll try to get it out of her. We had some other questions for you, too."

"You know what," Sam said. "Would it be easier for my brother and I to just come in? We'd like to see her again. Guess we just want to see with our own eyes that she's doing better."

"Yes, that'd be perfect," Nurse Odom replied. "Tomorrow morning would be best, I'd rather let her sleep peacefully now."

"Of course, of course," Sam said. "We'll see you tomorrow."

He hung up and looked over at Dean, who was glaring at him. "Dude. What the hell? What part of we're not dragging her into all of this don't you understand?"

"Dean, I think she's already in it," Sam replied apologetically. "She's refusing to give her name to the hospital. She keeps saying someone's trying to find her and kill her."

Dean rubbed his face with his hand. "Damn it."

"We need to get over there," Sam said. "She could be in danger now."

Dean nodded. "Then let's get going."

**Follows, favorites, and especially reviews always appreciated! Thanks! ~ Lacey :)**


	5. Chapter 5: Elusion

_Chapter 5: Elusion_

The hospital entryway was almost entirely empty, barring a few late night drunks walking in with bleeding hands and a couple who'd gotten a little banged up in a car accident. Luckily for the Winchesters, they arrived just as the couple was being ushered in by a host of nurses and paramedics, and they were able to slip past the nurses and make their way through the hallways.

They stumbled upon an orderly, who immediately looked suspicious. "Excuse me," he said. "Are you two allowed to be back here?"

Dean cast a sideways glance at Sam before looking back towards the young man. "Yes, we were told to find the room of the girl who was just brought in here a few hours ago. Nasty bite mark on her neck, stab wound in the shoulder."

The man nodded. "Right, the pretty redhead. She's sleeping right now, I don't think—"

Dean fished around in his pocket and pulled out his fake FBI badge. "I think it's best you show us to her room."

The man took a good look at the badge and then nodded. "Sure thing."

He led them down the hallway and then turned right, striding briskly to the third door on the left. "She's sleeping. I'd advise you to wait till she wakes up. She's been a bit of a wreck."

"Of course," Sam said, nodding. "We'll take it from here."

The orderly nodded, and a few seconds later he was out of sight.

Dean peeked in the window. "There are curtains around her bed," he noted.

"Just open the door, Dean," Sam said, rolling his eyes.

Dean shrugged and opened it, greeted by the smell of antibacterial soap and the sound of a whirring machine. He and Sam slowly approached the curtain, and after taking a breath to calm himself, afraid he'd look at the girl and see his own face staring back at him, he tugged the curtain to the side.

The bed was empty, the oxygen tubes that had no doubt been pumping air into little Sophie's body lying forgotten in the sheets.

"Damn it!" Dean exclaimed, putting a hand to to his pocket where he kept his knife. "We're too late."

"Oh," a small voice said from behind them, and Sam and Dean whirled around to find Sophie standing in the corner of the room, a syringe in her hand as a weapon. She looked terrible; while the blood had been cleaned off her body, her face and arms were covered with bruises, and her lip had been split. Her hair had been taken out of its pigtails and was falling around her head in shiny red-gold waves, her hazel green eyes flashing in fear. "I thought...I thought you were something else."

"Just relax," Sam coaxed. "We're not going to hurt you."

Slowly, Sophie lowered the syringe. "I...I know. I just...I haven't had a very good day." The moment she said that, she swayed on the spot, and just as her knees began to give out Sam lunged forward and grabbed her under the arms.

"Watch yourself," he said, guiding her over to the hospital bed. He sat her down and she breathed deeply, trying to regain control.

"Blood loss sucks," she commented. Then she cringed. "Oh, no, I did not just make a vampire joke." Dean grinned at her, and then the grin fell off of his face when he noticed the thick bandage on her neck.

"How're you doing?" Dean asked, feeling more awkward than he ever had in his life.

She looked up at him, their eerily similar eyes meeting and staring for a moment. He felt like Sophie was trying to figure out everything about him in just a glance. "I've been better," she admitted.

Dean looked at her, his gaze steady.

She looked down at her feet. "I guess there's...there's some sort of conversation we have to have..."

"We can have it later," Dean said. "First you need to tell us who you think is trying to kill you."

She looked shocked. "How do you—"

"The nurse," Sam interjected. "Hurry, we don't want to stick around if there are monsters on your tail."

"I don't know who wants me dead," she said nervously. "I just know someone does."

"How?" Sam pressed.

"Sebastian—"

"Sebastian?" Dean asked.

"The vampire that kidnapped me," she clarified. "He left for a moment before you two came, when I was chained up, and when he came back he told me that he'd told every monster he knew of what my name was and...and whose kid I'm supposed to be." Her eyes shifted to Dean for a moment, and then went back to Sam. "Whether or not any of that's true, I guess a lot of people hate you or something, because from what he said I should expect a lot of things to come after me."

Dean ran a hand down his face. "Unfortunately for you, he wasn't lying. We need to get you out of here, pronto."

"Okay. Let me get my clothes," she said, bracing herself to stand up.

"Let me," Sam said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder and pushing her back down. "Where are they?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Well, we don't have time for this," Dean said hastily, pulling off his jacket and tossing it to Sophie. "Put this on, we'll get you out of here, and then we'll find some more clothes for you later."

She nodded, sliding on his jacket over her hospital gown, wearing it like a giant brown dress. She was grateful she wasn't wearing one of those hospital gowns from the movies, with a giant slit down the back. All the same, though, the hospital was bitterly cold, and she was grateful for the jacket, even if it did smell like whiskey, Old Spice, and a hint of the coppery scent of blood, likely her own. She glanced at Dean, and he wondered why she kept looking at him with such an inquisitive stare, as if no matter how long she looked she'd never know him. Which was true, he supposed, but how could she know.

"Alright," Sam said. "Dean, you're going to have to help her out of here, I'm too tall for her to put her arm around. I'll cover you."

Dean nodded, stepping forward and offering his hand out. Sophie hesitated for only a brief moment before reaching out her small, cold hand and grasping his. He gently pulled her up and slid her arm around his neck, reaching down and placing an arm around her waist to hold her up. The movement in her arm caused a horrible throbbing pain in her shoulder where Sebastian had stabbed her, and she let out a little cry of pain before biting her lip to hold the rest in.

Dean looked down at her. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Just...I hope you have painkillers wherever we're going."

"That is one thing we are fully stocked on," he assured her. Sam pulled a gun out from the back of his pants, and Dean added, "You good to walk?"

She looked up at him, a glare in her eyes. "He was sucking blood out of my neck, not my feet," she snapped. "I'm fine. Let's just get out of here before something that's not supposed to exist tries to kill me again."

Dean had been so busy trying to save her that he'd forgotten how her world had just been shattered. She'd been taken by a vampire, for God's sake. She had to be thinking she was losing her mind. If possible, the guilt weighed heavier on his chest. "Nothing's killing you today," he assured her. "Sam, let's go."

He didn't need telling twice. They walked out of the door of the room and started down the hall, looking for an emergency exit or side door. After two or so minutes of searching, they finally found one, and right as they were making their way through it someone called after them. "Hey! What the hell are you doing with my patient?"

All three of their heads swiveled to see the orderly Sam and Dean had run into earlier coming down the hallway towards them. As he neared, Dean saw his eyes flash black for a moment. "Demon, Sam," he said.

"Demon?" Sophie repeated, terrified.

"Demon," Dean affirmed. "We need to get the hell out of here."

"I'm sorry, did you just say _demon?"_ Sophie exclaimed. "As in, spawn-of-Satan demon?"

"No time to explain, kiddo," Dean said, pushing her through the door despite her surprised, pained cry. Sam followed through and Dean slammed the door, locking it tight. "Can you run?" he asked, looking to Sophie. She bit her lip and shook her head apologetically. "It's fine," he said, almost reassuring himself. "Thank God you're light." Without any warning, he lifted her back up in his arms and she let out a gasp. "Alright, we're running for it. Sam, you run ahead, see if you can get to the car and get it started."

Sam nodded and sprinted ahead, and Dean set off at a run behind him. Despite the agonizing pain rippling through her neck and shoulder, Sophie locked her arms around Dean's neck and tried to come to grips with the fact that she was running away from a demon in the arms her alleged father.

Soon Dean heard the rumbling of his car, and barely a second later the Impala roared to life in front of them. It sped in their direction and then skidded to a stop, and Dean quickly dumped Sophie in the backseat before shutting the door and sliding in by Sam, who proceeded to slam on the accelerator and flee towards the nearest exit.

**Thanks everyone so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Keep 'em coming ;) Thanks for reading! ~ Lacey :)**


	6. Chapter 6: Daughter Or Not

_Chapter 6: Daughter Or Not_

"What the hell is happening?" Sophie exclaimed.

"A bit busy right now," Dean called back, and after a few terrifying moments of going well over fifty miles and hour in a parking garage, they were out on the road, hightailing it to God knows where. "Okay. I think we're in the clear."

"In the clear from what?" Sophie asked breathlessly, her face drained of blood.

"A demon. From Hell," Sam said.

"A demon from Hell?" Sophie repeated. "Hell's real?"

"Very," Dean remarked, attempting to mask the chill that ran up his spine just from thinking about Hell.

"Vampires, demons...what else?" she breathed, sounding like she was about to faint.

"Everything, basically," Dean said. "And I guess everything's coming after you, now."

"Because I'm supposedly your daughter," she deadpanned. "Great. I don't even know you and I'm going to die because of you."

Dean felt like she'd slapped him. "No," he snapped, making the turn onto the Interstate. "No, you're not dying, got it?"

"Yeah, sure," Sophie replied, clearly not convinced.

"I'm serious. I'm not letting anything else get to you because some asshole vampire decided to tack my last name onto you."

"He didn't just decide to tack your name onto mine," Sophie grumbled, sitting back in the seat, gingerly rubbing her shoulder and poked at a stitch that had come out. "He picked me for a reason."

"We agreed to have this conversation later," Dean said, directing his eyes back to the road.

"Now is later," Sophie retorted. "For all I know I could be dead before we get to talk."

"I just told you—"

"Humor me," Sophie snapped.

"What do you want me to say, kid? One vampire says I've got a long lost daughter and I'm supposed to believe him?" Dean exclaimed.

"Dean," Sam cautioned. "Chill out. She's had a long day. She's about one more supernatural encounter away from going into shock."

"No," she said, her hazel green eyes flashing. "We're finally getting somewhere. You might think this is frustrating, _Dean_, but it's nothing compared to how this is for me! Do you think I enjoy having my father's identity dangled in front of me without any sign the information is at all credible, and then being tortured because of it? I've been trying to find you—him—for years! And now...now this...this nightmare..." Her face contorted for just a moment before she hid herself in her hands, shaking uncontrollably.

"Damn it," Sam said, looking back. "Definitely going into shock."

She lifted her head up and shook it. "No. Not shock. Just...I'm just frustrated. And exhausted. Are we going anywhere where I'll be able to sleep?"

Her sudden change of mood worried Dean, but he didn't comment on it. "We should be there in ten minutes."

She nodded and then put her head in her hands. She still trembling as if it were below freezing, despite Dean's jacket. Sam looked over at Dean, a worried look on his face, but Dean just shook his head. This wasn't the kind of problem you could solve by a quick _Are you alright._

After a few moments she lifted her head up. "Um...Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"We're going to get some clothes for me, right? Because, uh...I only have a hospital gown. And your jacket. Which, by the way, could use a good wash."

Dean ignored the sideways insult at his favorite piece of outerwear. He turned to Sam. "What do you say, Sammy? Think we lost the demon?"

"I think so," Sam said. "Besides, she's right. She can't walk around in that flimsy paper dress, it's February. She'll freeze."

"Alright, then," Dean ceded. "Where do we get clothes for you, kid?"

"I don't know," Sophie said. "I don't care. Just send me into a store and I can make it happen."

"You can't even walk," Sam said.

"I can make it around long enough to get a few items of clothing," Sophie said. "Besides, you don't know what size clothes I wear or anything."

"Sure I do," Dean said. "I'm guessing size 2 pants, extra small shirts, 32B—"

"_Dean,_" Sam exclaimed.

"How do you—" Sophie started at the same time.

"What can I say, I have an eye for things like that."

Sam looked relatively disturbed. "Dean, she literally could be your daughter and you just eyeballed the size of her bra," Sam hissed under his breath.

"It was a simple mental measurement," Dean muttered back.

"Look, regardless of your...creepy ability to know the exact size of my clothes...I still can walk into a store," Sophie said. "If you really think we're in the clear of this demon, just stop by any old store and I'll be in and out in ten minutes. I have a bank account, too, so I don't need your money."

"Alright, fine," Dean said.

"But you can take our cash," Sam said, to Dean's incredulous dismay. "No point alerting anyone watching that you're accessing your bank account in the city you're in."

She nodded. "Thanks."

"It's the least we can do," Sam replied. He turned and offered her a little half grin, and she tried to return it, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards before flattening out again.

Three minutes later they found a quaint little thrift store wedged between a small pet shop and a hole in the wall coffee shop. Once the car was parked, Sophie slowly slid out of the backseat and gingerly limped up to Dean's window. He rolled it down and handed her a wad of cash. "Frugality is key," he said as her hand clamped around it. "And don't let anyone get a good look at you. Sam'll go in just to keep an eye out."

She nodded, trying to fold his jacket more tightly around her body. Dean couldn't help but stare at her in her pitiful state. The bottom of her hospital gown peaked out from the end of Dean's jacket, which hung almost as long on her body as the gown. She was barefoot, and her hair was hanging in wild, wavy curls around her face, framing her bruised cheeks and split lip. She saw him staring at her and bit the inside of her cheek. "I'll be right out," she said, and then she turned on her heel and slowly made her way into the store, Sam close behind her.

Sophie was true to her word. Within ten minutes she left wearing a pair of dark, skin tight jeans, a gray tank top, an army green jacket similar to the one she'd had earlier, and a pair of gently used combat-styled boots. In her arms she carried a few other articles of clothing, which she figured she would need in the future, and an unremarkable gray duffle to hold it all. The lady at the checkout had given her a few things for free when she'd gone up to pay, perhaps because she felt so bad about how terrible Sophie looked. Among those free items had been a package of hairbands, a belt, a mini-brush, a set of pajamas, and a cream colored beanie.

Sam met up with her at the exit, hands in his pockets. "Did you get everything you need?"

She slapped a bill in his hands. "With twenty dollars to spare."

He grinned. "That'll make Dean happy. More beer for him."

"He drinks?" she asked as they slowly made their way back to the Impala, Sophie still a little unsteady on her feet.

Sam nearly snorted. "More than anyone should."

"Hm," Sophie mused.

"Don't worry," Sam said. "He never gets drunk on the job. Actually, I don't even think there's enough alcohol in the world to actually get him drunk anymore."

"Well, that's good, I guess. If he's the way he is sober, I can't even imagine how he'd be drunk."

Sam stared at her for a moment, wanting to peg her with questions about what she was thinking and how she was feeling, and then he realized there was no way he'd be able to get anything real out of her until she'd had some rest. "C'mon," he said. "Dean's waiting."

He walked off toward the car and Sophie slowly followed behind him. She heard the hum of the engine as she slid into the back seat, tossing the duffle on the seat next to her.

"Glad to see you in something other than that hospital gown," Dean noted, backing out of the parking spot. "You got my jacket still?"

"Yeah," she said, patting the duffle. "In here." She reached in and pulled out his jacket, tossing it up into the front seat, and then she reached in and grabbed one of the hair ties the lady had given her. As she reached up to tie her hair back, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, and then she gasped.

"What is it?" Sam asked, turning back to look at her in concern.

"Nothing," she said. "I just think...I think one or two of my stitches might have come undone in all of this craziness."

"Well, you happen to be traveling with the two best on-the-go-suture experts in the country," Dean commented, acting nonchalant but adding a bit more force to the accelerator. "You're in good hands."

"Good to know," she sighed.

She sat in silence during their drive to the nearest crappy motel, mulling through everything that had happened throughout the day. She didn't know how she was even still conscious. All she wanted was to fall asleep and wake back up about ten years earlier, with her mom and her puppy Olly. Impossible, though, since both of them were dead.

Within twenty minutes they were bringing all of their belongings into a tiny, dingy motel room off of the highway, Dean carrying his and Sophie's bags as she tiredly shuffled into the room. There were two beds, a lumpy looking couch, and a small, disgusting kitchenette that Sophie wouldn't cook on if there were no other kitchens left on earth. She practically collapsed on the couch as Sam and Dean dumped their bags onto the floor. Dean turned to look at her.

"Alright, show me the wound. We'll fix those stitches up." Too tired to argue, she removed her jacket and turned around so Dean had access to her shoulder. He inspected it for a minute, and then bent away. "Looks like two of the stitches were busted. Sam, you're the doctor in the group, what say you?"

Sam walked over and looked at it. "Yeah, that's going to need to be restitched."

"We can't go back to another hospital," Sophie said, her voice a little bit higher. "They're probably at every medical center in the area."

"She's right," Sam said. "Sophie...I think we're going to have to restitch it the old fashioned way."

"What?" Dean exclaimed. "Sam, it's one thing to bite the bullet and dump some whiskey on our wounds, but she's fifteen. Medieval medical care shouldn't be practiced on a person until they're at least legal."

"Dean, it's okay," Sophie said, grimacing as she moved her shoulder. "Just get it over with. I'm not going back to a hospital, and I'm bleeding out. Pain is relative, anyway, and I've felt worse."

"Kid, I don't think you know how much it hurts to put in stitches without numbing it up first," Dean cautioned.

"There's a first time for everything," Sophie said, standing up and walking over to Dean's bag. She tossed it onto one of the beds and unzipped it.

"Hey, get out of my stuff," Dean said, hurrying over and snatching his bag back, but not before she'd pulled out the bottle of alcohol stuffed in the sides.

"Figured I'd find something in here," she noted, popping the top off and taking a quick drink. Her face contorted in disgust as she swallowed. "Ugh, how can you stand this stuff?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Dean asked angrily.

"I believe the term is self-medicating. Get enough of this in my system, and I won't even remember the pain."

"I am _not _allowing a fifteen-year-old to get drunk like this. No way," Dean said, shaking his head. "Not happening."

"Look," Sophie said. "I don't like this anymore than you do. In fact, I guarantee you I like it the least. I have had the worst day ever. I've been fed on by a vampire, skewered in the shoulder by said vampire, been told you're my father and that monsters are actually real, all in under twelve hours. Nothing, not even the world's most painful stitches, could make this day worse. So let me take about three more gulps of this crap, and then Sam here can start sewing me back together, alright?"

Dean and Sam looked at each other. Dean finally shrugged. "Fine. Have it your way."

Sophie nodded, taking another long gulp of the alcohol, swallowing it, and then taking another. "God this is awful," she said, brushing her hand across her mouth. She handed the bottle to Sam. "Alright. Fix me up, please."

Sam got to work as Dean looked on. Sophie grimaced and clenched her teeth the first time the needle passed through her skin, but she didn't make a noise. Sam kept looking over at her face for signs that the pain was too much, but she just slid her hair over to one side and grabbed the edge of the couch so hard that her fingers were turning white. Dean watched as the blood dripped down her back, staining the new shirt she had on.

This was his fault.

The kidnapping, the torture, the monsters chasing her. The fact that she was receiving homemade stitches in the worst motel the city had to offer. It was all his fault.

He didn't know a lot about what was happening, but looking at Sophie now, her face contorted in silent pain, he did know one thing.

Daughter or not, he was going to make damn sure that from here on out, she was safe.

No matter what that meant.

**Gracias for reading! I'll be keeping it coming! Got a lot more to come! ~ Lacey :)**


	7. Chapter 7: Chick Flick Moment

_Chapter 7: Chick Flick Moment_

Finally, Sam was done. "Alright," he said, wiping his bloodied hands on a towel. "That should do it." He taped some gauze on top of the stitches, walked over to their crappy fridge, and placed some ice in the paper bag the liquor had come out of. He also pulled a bottle of painkillers out of his pocket. "Keep this on your shoulder until you fall asleep to help with the pain and the swelling, and take a couple of these."

Sophie quickly took the bottle and popped it open. "How many should I take?"

"I think for your height and weight, it recommends two," Sam said.

"Gotcha." She quickly dumped four into her hand and threw them all into her mouth. After swallowing them, she stood up and grabbed her duffle, quickly taking out her pajamas. "There's a working shower in here, right?"

Dean nodded. "It should work. But be careful not to get those stitches wet."

"I'll do my best," she said, and then she disappeared into the bathroom.

Dean let out a pent up breath, one he didn't even realized had built up inside of him, and then he sat down on the edge of the bed.

Sam looked over at him. "You alright?"

"I don't know, man," Dean said. "Would you be?"

"Probably not," Sam admitted. "But talk to me. Is there a chance she's yours? I saw your reaction when she said her mother's name. Did you know her?"

Dean heard the water turn on in the bathroom, and he waited a few moments before nodding. "Yeah. Caroline Gardner. I met her before you even went to Stanford," Dean said. "I was, like...what, seventeen, eighteen? We were hunting some werewolves, and she was the daughter of the police chief. We ended up staying in town for, like, two months."

"I remember that trip. One of those longest we had."

"Yeah. Well, all those times I said I was going to hustle pool, I was meeting Caroline. Seriously, one of the hottest girls I've ever seen. Really pretty redhead with these big brown eyes and, well, she had these legs and I swear she was a gymnast—"

"Alright, Romeo, keep it PG please. Her daughter's literally in the next room. So what happened?"

"What always happened," Dean said, shrugging. "We killed the werewolves, found a new gig, and skipped town. Never saw her again."

"But you cared about her," Sam said. "You wouldn't sneak around with her for two months if you didn't."

"So I was a little more attached to her than others," Dean accepted. "I was also a teenager. It was easier for me to fall into some sort of relationship. Didn't stop me from leaving all the same."

"So if you were sleeping with her for two months," Sam said, "it's pretty possible you might have slipped one past the goalie."

"Man, I don't know," Dean said, rubbing his face with his hands. "We were careful."

"Careful doesn't always cut it."

"So what if it's possible she's mine. Doesn't mean I can, should, or will make any claims on her. Damn it Sam, she's known me for less than twenty-four hours and she barely survived that long. And she's been just fine without me for fifteen years. Why ruin that now?"

"You should at least check and make sure you're really her father. It might be easier if there's some clarity," Sam advised.

Dean looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you stupid, Sam? We need to find a place where she's safe, drop her off there, and then get the hell out of dodge."

"How do you think she's going to take that?" Sam tried.

Dean stood up, angry. "I don't know, but I do know how it'll go if she stays with us. She will die. It's as simple as that."

"How can you know that, Dean?" Sam asked, exasperated. "She's probably better with us around to watch her back—"

"Mom, Dad," Dean spat. "Ellen, Jo, Bobby. I could go on for days, Sam, _days_. She will die, and it will probably be very, very painful. So no, she's not better with us around, even if she is half me."

Sam stared at him. "You're probably right—"

"Damn straight."

"But," Sam continued, "you owe it to her to at least prove or disprove you're her father. That way she won't go try anything stupid to figure it out on her own."

Dean was silent for a moment. Sam had a point. "So what do you propose I do, Maury?"

"I don't know. Go find someone who will do a quiet DNA test."

"Yeah, okay, let me pull up the paternity test expert I keep on speed dial," Dean snapped scathingly.

"Look, we'll find someone. Until then, let's just make sure Sophie doesn't get hurt anymore."

"That's as good a plan as any."

Sam walked over to the little cooler they'd brought in and pulled out a beer. He tossed it to Dean and then pulled out another for himself. They both opened their respective bottles and drank at the same time. Sam placed it on the little table set up in the kitchen and sat down in the chair, looking over at his brother. "Dean?" he said tentatively.

"Yeah?" Dean responded, throwing back about half of the bottle of beer in one go.

"I don't know if it counts for anything…but I think she really is yours." Dean looked over at Sam, his face lined with exhaustion. "I mean, she kinda looks like you. Except her hair is sort of reddish and she's a little paler, but the eyes are the same, and the freckles and the nose."

"You've been staring at me too much, Sammy," Dean remarked. After a moment's thought, and another sip of beer, he added, "And at her."

"Says the dude who was able to eyeball a teenager's bra size," Sam pointed out.

"Touché," Dean said, lifting his beer in salute and then drinking again.

"I still think that's sick," Sam commented.

Dean shrugged. "Old habits die hard."

Sam shook his head. "Fatherhood's going to be a doozy for you."

Dean narrowed his eyes angrily. "We just went over this, Sam. I'm not going to be participating in fatherhood. I'm going to be participating in saving this girl's ass because I got her into this mess in the first place."

"Alright, alright, chill out," Sam said. "I'm not saying you need to drop everything and start a whole new life, but…c'mon Dean, I know a part of you always wanted kids."

"Yeah," Dean snorted. "Finding out I knocked up a girl back when I was a teenager and not knowing until the kid's old enough to drive is definitely the way I wanted that to happen."

"Since when has anything ever happened the way we wanted?" Sam pointed out. "I say you roll with the punches. You might end up liking her."

"It's not a matter of me liking her, Sam!" Dean exclaimed. "What part of I-don't-want-to-get-her-killed don't you understand?"

"Just forget about it," Sam responded. "We can duke it out later. She'll be out of the shower in a few minutes, we don't want to look like we're arguing when she comes out."

"Already out," a voice came from behind them, and Sophie stood in the bathroom doorway, wearing pink and yellow plaid pajama pants and a long sleeved black shirt, her hair tied up in a towel. "What are you arguing about?"

"Nothing," the brothers said at the same time.

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Is it about me?"

"It's not important," Sam tried.

"Why do I feel like it is and you're just lying to me?" she asked.

"It's really not," Dean interjected. "Kind of a chick flick moment."

"Great," she sighed, walking over to her bag and unwrapping the towel from her head. Her damp, reddish hair fell in wet curls to just past her shoulder blades. "I get stuck with the two macho monster killers that also need long walks on the beach and tissues. Just my luck."

"Hey," Dean snapped. "We don't need tissues."

"Good to know," she retorted before grabbing a small brush out of her bag and beginning to comb through her hair. "So I guess if you're not going to tell me what you were arguing about, you should at least tell me where you're taking me."

"We…uh….," Dean started, and then he paused.

"We haven't quite figured that out yet," Sam explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sophie asked.

"You can't go back home," Dean explained. "You'd be putting a target on your family's heads."

"I have no family," Sophie said quietly. "There's no problem there."

Sam gave her a strange look. "You have a stepdad, don't you? That's what the missing persons report said."

"You looked up my missing person's report?" Sophie asked, surprised.

"We had to figure out who you were," Dean said.

"Oh," she said. "I didn't even know…I didn't even know I had one."

"It said your friend Patrick reported you missing," Sam tried.

"Oh, Patrick," Sophie exclaimed, slapping a palm to her forehead. "I didn't think about him."

"Or your stepfather, apparently," Dean noted.

"I don't really care about him," Sophie said curtly, dropping the hairbrush back into the duffle bag. She turned away from Sam and Dean, grabbed her hair ties off of her wrist, and began to braid her hair down the side of her head.

"Why not?" Sam prompted after it became clear she wasn't going to elaborate.

"We aren't close," she replied shortly.

"So you don't care if he gets ripped to shreds by an army of supernatural monsters?" Dean asked, sounding surprised.

She didn't respond, trying to phrase her words in just the right way. "I wouldn't wish that upon anyone. I never said I wanted him to die, I just said I'm not close with him. He's not really family, that's what I was trying to get at."

"Well, regardless of how you feel, everything coming after you isn't going to know that man isn't family to you. They'll hunt him down," Dean said.

A look of horror dawned on her face. "Do you think they'll hunt down Patrick? He's the only real friend that I have."

"If they smell leverage, they'll use it," Dean said slowly.

"We have to go get him then," Sophie said, fear building in her voice. "Patrick can't get hurt because of me. He's the only person I care about anymore."

"No can do, sweetheart. You're the one in real danger here."

"Real danger?" she exclaimed, and Dean realized how ridiculous he felt being scolded by a ninety-some pound girl in pink and yellow pajamas. "I have two monster hunters who've decided to protect me for some reason, and he has nothing or no one. So who's facing the real danger now?"

"Look, Sophie," Sam tried. "We want to help Patrick, we do, but our main concern right now is you, and—"

"Why?" she challenged. "Because I may or may not be Dean's daughter? I might have just as much of an abandonment complex as the next fatherless teenage girl, but I'm not naïve enough to think you actually feel some sort of obligation towards me. I'm not your main concern. I get the feeling your job is saving people, and Patrick counts as people. If you don't agree to go make sure he's safe, I'll go myself and then we'll both get killed and you will have failed big time."

Dean looked at Sam, clearly frustrated. Sam gave him a look that clearly asked, _Are you sure she's not yours_?

Dean looked back at Sophie, with her sopping hair and bruised face. She'd been through enough hell today. They could argue later. "Right now there's nothing we can do anyway. We're all exhausted, especially you. You need to sleep."

"But Patrick—"

"At this point, a few hours one way or another won't make any difference. If they already have him, he's done for. If they don't, they wouldn't make the connection between you two for a while. We've got time, and we all need to rest."

Sophie didn't look happy about it, but she nodded. "Fine." She grabbed her bag off of the couch and tossed it onto the floor and then made her way to the closet, opened it up, grabbed the extra set of sheets sitting on the top shelf, and then set them on the couch.

Sam immediately stepped forward and grabbed them. "You go ahead and take one of the beds," he said.

She shook her head. "It's fine, really, I just need to find a pillow and—"

"Nope. What kind of person would I be if I let the girl who just took a beating from a vampire sleep on a lumpy couch while I lounged in an actual bed?"

"You'd be Dean, I guess," Sophie said, looking over at Dean, who had already flopped onto the nearest bed.

"It's been a rough day," Dean defended. "Sammy can take one for the team."

Sophie couldn't help but grin as she made her way over to Dean's bed, leaned over his exhausted body, and grabbed the other pillow off of the bed.

"Hey!" Dean protested.

"No complaining," she said, tossing the pillow onto the couch. "Sam got knocked out by a vampire. He deserves it more."

"If he let himself get knocked out by one of those bastards, I'd say he deserves it _less_," Dean grumbled.

Sophie ignored him as Sam grinned, clearly glad to be shown some favoritism. "Thanks, Sophie," he said brightly.

"Don't mention it," Sophie replied before walking over to her bed and slipping underneath the covers. "Wake me up early. We need to get to Patrick before something else does."

"Stop stressing," Dean said. "Go to sleep."

"Fine," Sophie said, wanting to say something else but already feeling her consciousness slipping away. She closed her eyes, let her head sink into the pillow, and within a minute her breathing had slowed down and she was asleep.

**As always, thanks for reading! Updates forthcoming! Favorite, follow, and please, review! ~ Lacey :)**


	8. Chapter 8: On The Rack

_Chapter 8: On The Rack_

Dean looked over at Sophie, who was deeply asleep under the gaudy orange hotel sheets. "That was quick," he noted.

"She's been on hyperdrive the whole day," Sam rationalized. "She hasn't been able to rest one bit because there hasn't been a moment where she's been safe."

"Well," Dean said, getting up from the bed and grabbing a bag of salt from one of their bags, walking over to the front door, "she's safe now."

Sam looked at the pillow Sophie had nabbed for him, and then he went to the same bag from which Dean had drawn the salt and searched for a can of spray paint. He walked over to the door and began to spray a devil's trap on the floor, a few inches from Dean's salt line. "She's safe _for _now," he corrected as he finished up the trap.

Dean nodded as he moved to salt the one window in the room. "What do you say we do with her after we make sure her friend and her stepdad are alright?

"I don't know," Sam said. "Take a leaf from Frank Deveraux's book? Find a way to give her an entirely new identity, drop her at an obscure city at an obscure school with an obscure foster family. I'm sure Bobby's got a friend somewhere in his book who'd be willing to take in a young girl until she's old enough to get along on her own."

"That," Dean said as he dropped the salt back into his bag, "is a much better idea than mine, even though I don't like it."

"And what was your bright idea?"

"Summon Crowley. See if there was anything he might want in exchange for calling off his demon herd."

Sam gave Dean a look. "Pretty sure any idea is better than that one. Since when has dealing with Crowley done us any favors? Besides, it's not just demons on her tail. It's all kinds of monsters."

"Well yeah, but demons are the only ones who can follow her trail. Everything else, if we could get her far enough away from ground zero…she wouldn't have to start an entirely new life."

"Look, we're both exhausted," Sam pointed out. "We should go to sleep and figure this stuff out later."

Dean nodded. "I'd argue, but I'm too damn tired, too." He walked over to his bed, grabbed at the bottom of his shirt, looked over his shoulder at the sleeping Sophie, and then stopped. "I have to sleep fully clothed now, don't I?"

Sam grinned. "Probably a good idea."

He grumbled, tugging off his jacket and leaving his undershirt on. He climbed into his bed and went to turn off the light before hesitating again. "Are two grown men allowed to be alone in a room with no lights with a teenage girl? Should we leave a light on or something?"

"Dean, stuff like that only applies to men who _intend _on being pedophiles. Now I can't speak for you, but that's not me."

"Point taken," Dean said, turning off the lamp.

Within ten minutes, they were all deeply asleep.

* * *

Dean dreamed of blood.

Ever since his little gallivant to Hell, he'd had nightmares on an almost nightly basis, so this blood-filled dream didn't throw him off his guard at first. He'd seen and done things down in the pit that he could never unsee or undo, no matter how much he wished he could. It almost seemed right for him to experience these nightmares. In his mind, no amount of suffering could really make up for the things he'd done to some of the souls in Hell.

In his nightmare, he was back in the pit, and he was torturing some woman on the rack. She screamed and begged him to stop, but he just kept going, stone-faced, cutting into her flesh remorselessly.

Suddenly, her screams and yells began to change. They sounded different, like they were coming from a different person. He refocused, and as he pulled a serrated knife out from the girl's ribs he realized she had changed. The woman before had had dark black hair and sullen brown eyes. This girl was small, with light golden red hair and green eyes, and her screams were filled with a new pain. "Dean, please," she cried out. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! What did I do? I'm sorry!"

In shock, he dropped the knife. "Sophie?"

It was like she hadn't heard him, and she kept screaming. "I'm sorry!"

He stepped away from her, eyes wide with shock. "I didn't…I didn't mean to…"

She bled out, her bloodied face filled with insurmountable pain. "Why, Dean?" she whimpered. "Why me?"

He sat up in bed, eyes wide, panting and sweating. It was still pitch black, with just the faint glow of the moon coming through the window. He looked over on the couch and saw Sam, passed out, his long limbs tangled in the blankets. He then looked over to the other bed, where Sophie was curled up in a small ball underneath the blankets, which moved up and down slowly and rhythmically with each breath she took. She was fine. She'd probably wake up cranky and sore, but she was fine.

Dean slowly let his head fall back on the pillow, and he closed his eyes, trying to let the image of sleeping Sophie pervade his mind instead of the image of tortured Sophie, hung up on a rack in Hell. After a few moments of focusing on her in her most peaceful state, he was finally able to calm his heart rate, and slowly, he fell back asleep.

**More action and dad-ness coming up in the next couple of chapter! Thanks, as always! Favorite, follow, review! ~ Lacey :)**


	9. Chapter 9: Wake Up Call

_Chapter 9: Wake Up Call_

What felt like just seconds later, Dean was jarred awake by someone pushing at his shoulder.

He started awake, flailing wildly. "Where is it? I'll kill it with my hands."

"Woah," a small voice cautioned. "Chill out. I'm just waking you up."

He let his vision go into focus, and he saw Sophie standing over him, her arms crossed. He looked over to the alarm clock and saw a bright green flashing _6:00_. "What the hell?" he grumbled. "It's not even sunrise."

"We agreed to leave early," she said. "To go check on Patrick."

"And your stepfather," he said, remembering.

"Right."

Dean sat up, noticing that Sam was gone. "Where's Sam?"

"He went to go get coffee and gas. He made a lot less of a fuss when I tried to wake him up."

"How long have you been up for?" Dean asked, sitting up and swinging his feet over the side of the bed.

"Since five. I didn't sleep for very long, to be honest. I kept rolling over onto my shoulder and waking up."

"Sorry to hear that."

She shrugged. "I can sleep when I'm dead. Now c'mon, put some pep in that step."

"Look, I told you last night. A few hours one way or the other isn't going to make a difference," he complained, but still he stood up from the bed and straightened out his shirt.

Sophie glared at him, hands on her hips. "If it were Sam about to be hunted by a world of creepy-crawlies, we'd have been there last night."

Dean looked carefully at Sophie before walking over to his bag and grabbing out a toothbrush. "Yeah, probably," he admitted. "But not if it would have put you in danger."

"No," she shook her head. "You still would have gone."

Dean walked over to the bathroom. "Yes, but you would have been far, far away."

Sophie didn't look too happy about that. "So, what, now I'm a burden _and _useless?"

"I never said either of those!" Dean exclaimed, beginning to get frustrated.

"It was implied."

Dean ran his toothbrush underwater and squeezed some toothpaste onto it. "Are you always like this, or is it the painkillers talking?"

"Am I always really pissed off because the stranger whose hotel room I'm crashing in thinks I'd be useless in saving my best friend from a horde of angry monsters?" he heard her snap as he quickly swiped the brush back and forth carelessly across his teeth. "Sorry, can't say I have a lot of experience in that area. Try me the next time it happens and I'll tell you whether it's just me or the Advil."

He spit and rinsed his mouth. "You could be a little grateful, you know," he snapped back. "You'd be dead right now if Sam and I hadn't saved you. Or worse."

She was silent for a moment, and then she said, her tone changed, "I guess I should've thanked you for that," she admitted. "Not to say that everything that's happened afterwards hasn't sucked, but…I'm glad I'm alive."

"Good," Dean said, taking the biting edge out of his tone. He rinsed off his toothbrush and walked outside of the bathroom. "Now let me get ready and we'll leave when Sam gets back."

She nodded. "I'll just be in here," she said, grabbing her duffle bag and heading into the bathroom.

"No, you'll be out here," Dean said. "You hogged the shower last night."

She stuck her head out, giving him a death glare. "Sorry to be an inconvenience, I wanted to make sure all of my dry blood was washed off my body. I'll be sure to put your comfort over my sanity the next time we decide who gets the most shower time."

"Stop whining and let me in there," Dean grumbled, suddenly understanding what it must feel like to be on the receiving end of someone so mouthy.

Sophie was grumbling too as she stepped out of the bathroom, motioning with her arms towards the tiny little room. "By all means," she said mockingly. He gave her a look and walked into the bathroom, shutting the door and locking it.

He listened to the sound of the mattress creaking as Sophie undoubtedly plopped down on it, and then he turned on the shower and undressed. Once the water was hot, he stepped in, letting the water hit his head and run down his sore back. He hadn't had much time to rest his body since tracking and killing that nest of vamps, but it was starting to catch up with him. Slowly, he began to relax as he settled into the rhythm of the water beating down on his back and running down his body, rinsing away the sweat and grime and stress of the last couple of days.

And then he heard a terrified scream come from the room, and just like he'd never relaxed, every one of his nerves were on fire again.

_Sophie_.

He jumped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist at record speed. "Sophie?" he yelled out, not knowing how the hell he was going to protect Sophie or himself half naked and weaponless. Trying not to think too hard about his helplessness, he burst through the door into the hotel room, determined to fight tooth and nail.

Sophie was standing in the corner, holding the lamp that had been sitting on the bedside table like a baseball bat, a look of disbelief and terror on her face.

Standing across from her was a dark-haired man wearing a blue tie and a trench coat.

**Who ever could it be ;) Thanks as always for reading. Follow, favorite, and feedback is always helpful! ~ Lacey :)**


	10. Chapter 10: This Is The World

_Chapter 10: This Is The World_

Dean swore, his adrenaline production gradually slowing to a stop. "Damn it, Cas! You can't do that!"

The man looked confused. "But, Dean, I always do that."

Sophie looked over at Dean, clearly less shocked about his state of undress than the fact that he seemed to know this strange, trench-coated apparition. "You and the dude who just…literally appeared out of freaking nowhere seem pretty chummy," she said, lowering the lamp slowly and setting it back down on the bedside table. "Care to explain who the hell he is?"

Dean was lost for words. How did he explain what Cas was to her without confusing her already rapidly changing view of the world? "Um…"

"I am Castiel, an angel of the Lord," Cas announced, staring at Sophie intently. He then looked at Dean with a harsh, judgmental glare. "She's just a child, Dean. Do you have no discretion?"

Sophie scrunched up her nose in disgust as Dean grew visibly frustrated. "No, Cas, she's not a hooker, she's…well, she's….she's…"

"Dean and Sam saved me from a vampire. And then from a demon. And they're currently trying to save me from a hoard of angry monsters," Sophie cut in. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. Did you say you were an angel?"

"Correct," Cas said. He turned to give Dean an apologetic glance. "Sorry, Dean, I just figured with you being in a motel and unclothed near this girl—"

"Of the Lord?" Sophie interrupted, clearly unwilling to see the subject change, her face a mask of pure astonishment.

"We're still working on the validity of that statement," Cas admitted.

Sophie looked over at Dean. "Angels? Seriously?"

"It's a strange world out there, kiddo," Dean offered apologetically. He looked over at Cas. "Why the hell are you here, Cas? I didn't call you."

"No," Cas said. "Your brother did."

"Sam prayed to you?" Dean replied, confused. Praying to Cas was sort of _his_ thing. "Why would he do that?"

"I wasn't picking it up all too clearly, there's been a bit of a disconnect between heaven and earth recently, I'm not sure why," Castiel said, taking a few steps closer to Sophie, who just looked stunned. "From what I heard, he had something he needed help hiding."

It all began to make sense to Dean. And for once, he needed to commend his brother. Before he could say anything, the door to the room opened, and Sam walked in, three coffees in hand. When he closed the door and saw the scene before him, he groaned. "He scared her, didn't he?"

"Screamed bloody murder," Dean replied.

He nodded, and after a moment an amused look appeared on his face. "Nice skirt," he remarked, gesturing towards Dean's towel.

Dean, seeming to realize he was still standing, soaking wet, in the middle of the room, gave Sam a furious look and strode back into the bathroom, slamming the door, and reemerging about twenty seconds later wearing jeans and pulling on a gray undershirt. Sophie was now fully relaxed, but her eyes were narrow.

"Am I the something that you need help hiding?" she asked Sam bitterly.

Sam nodded, setting the coffees down on the table. "Not in the sense that you think though," he said. "Cas, can't you do some kind of…angelic cloaking thing on Sophie to keep all of these monsters away from her?"

Cas looked thoughtful. "I can render her undetectable from demons and some creatures, provided they don't have her scent."

Dean started to feel hopeful. "Only one vampire had her scent, and he's dead."

Cas nodded. "That's good. Well, there's something I can do, but…."

Sophie could practically feel the hesitation. "What?"

"It would be…excruciatingly painful for you," he said. "It involves a soul touch."

Dean was already shaking his head. "No. No way. You've said it yourself, soul touches are basically always fatal."

Cas shook his head. "Only if they're being used to harvest power from the soul. I'm not doing that, I'm just using the existing power to cloak her."

Dean looked over at Sam. "We're not making her do that. We can protect her well enough on our own."

"Don't I get a say?" Sophie challenged, stepping forward. "I don't want to be your burden for the rest of my life. If this is the best way to keep monsters away from me, why shouldn't we do it?"

Dean looked aggravated. "You've clearly never had an angel mess around with your insides. When he says it's painful, he's not kidding."

"More painful than being ripped apart by vampires and demons and whatever else is apparently out in the world?" she exclaimed, stepping out from her corner and staring at Dean face to face. "I might be new to this whole monster thing, and there's clearly a lot I still don't know about, but if there's one thing I _do _know it's that I won't let myself get killed. If this is what it takes, I'm doing it."

Dean looked over at Sam for back up, but he just shrugged. "Dude, it sucks, but she's right."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "She's fifteen, Sam. Fifteen. At fifteen you were still crying over broken pinkies."

"She's tougher than I was," Sam said. "We already stitched her up in the hotel room and she barely made a sound."

Castiel looked up at that, turning to Sophie. "You've been injured?"

"Try kidnapped and tortured by a sadistic vampire," Dean offered, his blood boiling just at the memory.

Cas walked over to Sophie, looking at her carefully. She was surprised at how Castiel made her feel, a strange combination of calm, safe, and wildly intimidated. His eyes were steady and held a touch of concern as he asked, "Would it be okay if I saw your injuries?"

Silently, she nodded. She shrugged off the jacket she was wearing and turned to show Cas the hand-stitched stab wound on her shoulder.

"And the bandage on your neck?" he asked after a few seconds.

"Almost forgot," she replied nervously, swiping her hair to the side and gently peeling off the bandage, which revealed jagged fang holes.

Cas was silent for a moment. "I can heal those, if you want."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

He nodded and closed his eyes, touching two fingers to her forehead. She seemed to shimmer for a moment, and then he removed his hand and opened his eyes. Her mouth fell open, and she immediately lifted a hand to her neck and then to her shoulder. Smooth skin rested where gaping wounds had once, and the signature Winchester stitching was gone. All of the other cuts and bruises on her body had seemed to vanish as well. "Oh my God," she breathed. "You _are _an angel."

"I am," he confirmed matter-of-factly. "And I can promise you that if you let me cloak you, despite the pain, it _will_ work."

She nodded, finding a new resolve within herself. "I want you to do it. But first we need to check on Patrick."

"Patrick?" he asked questioningly, thrown off by her demand.

"Her friend," Dean commented.

"Where does he live?" Cas inquired. "I can check on him in just a moment."

"It's not just him we need to check on," Sam added. "It's her stepfather, too."

"I just need a name and a city," Cas said.

Both of the brothers turned to look at Sophie, who was still marveling at her healed body. "Apex, North Carolina," she said, still entranced. "Patrick Little."

"Your stepfather's name is Patrick, too?" Cas asked.

"Oh. No. His name is Steve."

Cas nodded, and then he disappeared.

Sophie looked up at Dean and Sam. "I haven't been drugged, have I?"

"Not to my knowledge," Dean replied.

"So this is real."

"I'm afraid so," Sam said.

Sophie shook her head. "So this is the world. Angels and demons and everything in between and" –she gestured to the two brothers— "…modern day Scooby Doo."

Dean looked offended. "We're called hunters, for future reference."

"You have the world's most unique job and you call yourselves hunters?" she asked in disbelief. "How boring."

Before Dean could respond, Cas reappeared in the room.

And he was drenched in blood.

**More to come soon! Favorite, follow, comment! Thanks a million! ~ Lacey :)**


	11. Chapter 11: Cloaked

_Chapter 11: Cloaked_

Dean immediately rushed over to him. "Cas, woah, are you okay?"

"This isn't my blood; I'm fine," Cas said, waving Dean off, looking completely unfazed by the fact that his clothes and a good portion of his face were covered in blood. "The boy, however, is not."

A hand flew to Sophie's mouth, and she shook her head. "No," she said, her voice muffled. Sam took a step in her direction, wanting to comfort her, but something in the way she was holding herself made him think twice.

"I'm sorry," Cas said, sounding genuine. "There was nothing I could do. I barely got out of there, the house was still surrounded. I never even got to check on your stepfather."

"Patrick's…dead?" she whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.

Cas had a grim look on his face. "The place was surrounded," he repeated, and then he turned to address Dean. "There are more creatures coming after Sophie than you might think. I should cloak her now."

"Right now?" Dean replied, his gaze drifting over to Sophie, who had let a couple tears slide down her face. She was a picture of complete and utter devastation. "She's…it's not a good time, Cas, can't you tell?"

"It'll never be a good time," Cas said, a little angrily. "There are monsters searching for her _now, _Dean, for reasons you have yet to explain to me. You can tell me later. Either way, the sooner she's hidden, the better."

"C'mon, Dean, you know he's right," Sam added.

"I know, I know," Dean snapped. He looked up at Sophie, heartbroken at the ragged look of loss on her face. No one her age should have gone through what she had. But she was still standing. Sam was right; she was stronger than they gave her credit for. "You ready, kiddo?"

She sniffed, wiping the tears away from her face, trying to look strong. "You said it's going to hurt a lot, right?" she asked Castiel.

"Yes," he replied apologetically.

She hesitated, clearly trying to choke down her fear. "Okay."

"If it makes you feel any better, I can make it so that you forget the pain once it's over," he tried.

She shook her head. "If I'm doing it, I'm going to remember it."

Cas nodded. "Go lie down." As she did what he said, Cas leaned over and said to Dean, "She's going to need something to bite on. We don't want the authorities to be called on us if she screams too loudly."

The thought of having to hear her scream more made his stomach feel like it was full of acid. Still, he just nodded, and he went into the bathroom and grabbed a hand towel. When he came back into the room, Cas had pulled up a chair next to the bed where Sophie was lying down, her face stony, her eyes closed.

Dean handed him the towel, and Cas placed it in Sophie's hand. "If you need to scream, bite down on this," he instructed.

"Just do it," she said through gritted teeth.

Dean stood by Sam, looking at her. "This doesn't feel right," he mumbled low enough that she couldn't hear.

Sam nodded. "I know. But this could save her."

"If it doesn't destroy her," Dean mumbled back.

Cas, a look of pure concentration on his face, placed the palm of his hand on her abdomen, and slowly, his hand seemed to sink into her body. Her reaction was immediate. She cried out in pain, and then the back of her hand flew to her mouth in an effort to stifle her screams. Where Cas's hand had entered her abdomen there was a shimmery golden glow, and his eyes were closed in deep focus. Tears were leaking out of Sophie's eyes, and little whimpers of pain escaped from her mouth. Mechanically, as if pulled by an invisible force, Dean stepped forward and squatted down on the other side of the bed, feeling helpless, wanting more than anything to be able to take the pain on for himself instead.

"You're going to be okay, Soph, okay?" he said, hating how he sounded. "You're going to be okay."

He was surprised when she turned her face to him, her eyes opening slowly, and he was even more surprised when he saw that her eyes seemed rimmed with light. Most surprising, though, was the fact that when Cas sank wrist-deep into her soul, she cried out and, reflexively, she reached out and grabbed Dean's hand.

He took hold of it, staring at her. She'd already closed her eyes again, tears falling slowly down her cheeks. "You're okay. Nothing's going to hurt you again, okay?"

He knew when he said it that it was a promise he couldn't keep, but he also knew that he was going to try to keep it until he was dead.

Without warning, Cas withdrew his hand and Sophie stopped moving, utterly unconscious. Her hand, which had been gripping his tightly just moments before, was limp.

Cas shook out his hand, looking mildly proud of himself. "It's done. She's completely cloaked."

"Is she okay?" Dean asked, standing up.

"She's perfectly fine. Just exhausted." Cas turned to look at Dean, his expression mildly insulted. "You never told me you had a daughter, Dean."

Sam and Dean both snapped their heads to attention. "She's not," Dean immediately said, tripping over the words a bit. "Or, well, we don't really know." He looked at Cas questioningly. "I never said anything about that, though."

Cas shook his head. "Oh, no, she is definitely you're daughter. I felt her soul, and I've felt yours, when I dragged it out of Hell. I know. She is undoubtedly part of you."

Dean felt his heart hammer in his chest. "What ever happened to good old fashioned paternity tests?"

Sam had an odd look on his face, one of disbelief and a sort of excited astonishment. "Are you sure?"

"I'm an angel, Sam. When I say something, I'm generally quite sure of it. Besides, one doesn't really need a test of any sort to deem that she is your daughter, Dean. She looks a bit like you. The eyes and—"

"The nose. Yeah, I've heard," Dean said, unamused. So…she's my daughter."

Sam clapped him on the shoulder. "Looks like you _are _the father of a Sophie."

"If I'd been around I'd never have let her been named Sophie," he grumbled. He sat down on the other bed. "God, Sam. I'm a damn father."

"And I'm an uncle!" he exclaimed.

"Don't get too excited. We're finding somewhere safe to leave her and then getting the hell away from her ASAP," Dean said, suddenly very sure of his plan. "I'm not putting her in any more danger. Ever. What just happened a minute ago is the last bit of pain she will ever feel because of me."

"Don't you think that's a little naïve, Dean?" Sam remarked. "She's in this now. If you ask me, her best chance is to stick with us."

"Yeah, well nobody asked you," Dean snapped.

"She needs us," Sam continued. "How do you not see that?"

Dean looked up at Cas. "Did you ever check on her stepdad?"

He nodded. "I just did a moment ago" he admitted.

Dean rolled his eyes. "Of course you did. Your angel magic is freaky sometimes, Cas, it really is." He rubbed his face with his hands for a moment, and then looked back up. "And he was…?"

"He fared much better than her friend. He wasn't touched. The group of creatures at the friend's house have not apparently identified the stepfather as having any sort of attachment to your daughter."

"Don't...don't refer to her as my daughter," Dean said quickly.

"But she is," Cas pointed out.

"It's still too weird," Dean groaned. He rubbed his face and then tried to clear his head. "Okay. If the monsters steered clear of her stepdad's, that's where shes going. We'll find them a new place to live, just to be cautious, and since she's cloaked now, they won't be able to find them."

Sam gave Dean a look. "I don't think that's a good idea, Dean."

"It's not. But it's the best one we have." When Sam still didn't look convinced, Dean tried to reason with him. "He's her family, whether or not they get along all that well. She's better off safe with him and unhappy for a few years than in constant danger with us forevermore."

"I don't know. She seemed to really not like her stepdad. Maybe there's something there we don't know."

Dean was already shaking his head. "No teenager actually gets along with their parents, especially a teenager whose mom died and left her with her stepfather. She's a girl, Sam, she's dramatic. She might not have the time of her life, but at least she'll have her life."

Sam heaved a big sigh. "So what? We drive her to Apex, hand her off to her stepdad, and…we leave. Just like that?"

Dean looked over at Sophie, at the tears drying on her pale cheeks, and he nodded. "Now. We go now."

**Thanks so much for all of the feedback! It's been great. For those of you asking questions...fear not! All will be answered in due time! ~ Lacey :)**


	12. Chapter 12: No Going Back

**Before I begin the chapter, I'd like to quickly respond to a review I got from an anonymous reader that I couldn't reply to privately because they reviewed as a guest. Essentially, reviewer, you gave me some (fairly credible) criticism in regards to Sophie's personality, which was that I play up her tough girl attitude too much. Although I had hoped I'd made it clear in the writing, I guess I didn't, which is good to know—I write fanfiction so that I can improve my writing and become better at what I love to do. My intention was never for her to really be super tough or badass or anything. My intention was for her to see the strong figure her father is and aspire to be like him, even if that meant sucking it up when she was really in physical/emotional pain and trying to be strong like him. Parts of her are strong, for sure—she _does _share DNA with Dean, after all—but you're right, she is just a teenage girl. I hope that as the story progresses, and her relationship with Dean develops, you'll see the more vulnerable side of her. As it is, keep in mind in this point of the story she's only known Dean for a little over 24-hours; she's confused and alone and she's not going to be pouring her soul out to him, no matter what his relation to her.**

**Never shy away from the tough criticism, guys. It's the only way for me, or anyone, to grow.**

**I hope I didn't sound too defensive there or anything, just wanted to clarify my end of that and hopefully show you guys that there's still room for development for Sophie! That being said, on to chapter 12!**

_Chapter 12: No Going Back_

Dean drove the Impala in unprecedented silence. No music, no talking. Just the sound of Sophie breathing slowly in the back and Sam shifting in his seat. Cas had already disappeared to somewhere else, another mission always at the forefront.

Sam spoke up. "Just to clarify, we're just going to hand her over, unconscious, to her stepfather, whom we know nothing about?"

"Stop harping on this, Sammy," Dean said. "As much as I'd like to say I didn't, I knew Caroline Gardner very well. And if she trusted this guy to be her daughter's guardian, he's trustworthy."

"Were you in love with her?" Sam asked after a moment. "Caroline?"

Dean shrugged. "Yes. No. I don't know. We were young. Who really knows what love is then?"

"But you cared about her."

"We already went over this. Yes, I cared about her. A lot. Enough to do whatever it takes to make sure her daughter is safe."

"Not just her daughter. Yours."

"Blood isn't everything, you know," Dean argued. "I don't know the first thing about her except she's not afraid to steal my liquor and she has a surprisingly high pain threshold."

"I know, I just…I don't know, Dean, something doesn't feel right about this. There are too many questions running through my mind. Why didn't all the monsters that went to town on Patrick go after her stepdad, who was in the same vicinity? Why was Patrick the one who filled out a missing person's report for Sophie and not her stepdad? Why is she so passive aggressive about everything personal in her life?"

"Look, the decision's made, Sam. We're only ten minutes from Apex. There's no going back now."

"I just feel like we're going to regret this," Sam said.

Dean looked over at his brother. "I mean, part of me probably will. The part that…that admittedly already cares about her. But, God, Sam, she's passed out in the back seat of the car right now because of what we put her through. She deserves better, and we're going to give her that."

Sam didn't say anything else. They both seemed to understand that they weren't going to get through to the other, and that either way, Sophie was being returned to her stepdad.

Fifteen minutes later, they were pulling up to a rather large, nice-looking house in a pretty neighborhood. Dean and Sam looked at each other, exchanging looks. "Nice digs," Sam commented.

"Like, really nice," Dean echoed. "Damn."

"Yeah, wow," Sam said. Dean parked the car and got out, Sam right behind him. They left Sophie to doze in the car as they walked to the front door. Dean straightened his jacket, clearly feeling obligated to look a bit nicer in the presence of obvious wealth. Sam rolled his eyes and knocked on the front door.

Within sixty seconds, the door was opening to reveal an attractive-looking man, perhaps a few years older than Dean. He was wearing a pair of dark slacks with a matching sports coat and a slick white button down shirt underneath. With one glance at the man's Rolex, Dean immediately decided he was a douchebag, and he tried not to let it bother him too much.

The man looked a little surprised to see someone as ragtag as Sam and Dean on his doorstep. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"Are you Steve?" Dean asked abruptly.

"Steve Gentry, yes. And you are?"

Sam stepped up. "Um, I'm Sam Winchester, and this is my brother Dean. We, uh…well, we have your stepdaughter with us. She's asleep right now, but she's unharmed. She said she lived here."

Steve looked surprised. "You have Sophia? With you?"

"It's a bit of a long story. But yes," Sam said.

"I was wondering what had happened to her, after I heard her friend Patrick had been found dead. I thought the worst." Dean tried not to be too suspicious about the lack of relief Steve expressed. "But I'm glad she's okay."

"Yeah, listen, buddy," Dean chimed in. "She's got a bit of a nasty tail on her. Some guys have been following her, harassing her. It's probably best if you guys clear town for a while, stay out of their way."

Steve shook his head, annoyed. "Of course she'd go and get herself involved in something dangerous and stupid. Classic Sophia."

Dean and Sam exchanged quick glances, both clearly expressing distaste. "But you'll get out of town, right?"

Steve shrugged. "I have a state of the art security system in place. No goon or thug is getting into my house, no matter how big the vendetta."

Dean shook his head. "You don't understand. These guys aren't going to care if you've got an alarm system. They just want to hurt your stepdaughter, and possibly you as well. You've got to leave."

Steve sighed, shaking his head. "I suppose we'll figure something out, if it's that bad. I have a house in Florida we could maybe stay at for a while, and I can work from there." He sighed. "I swear, sometimes, I just want her to turn eighteen and go off to college. Her mom was something special, really. But Sophia must've taken too much after whatever bad boy teenager her mom messed around with when they were kids, because I just can't manager her very well." Dean felt a tiny flare of pride in his chest, and he tried not to let it show on his face. "Well, let's bring her in."

"She's out right now. Pain meds," Sam said. "I can carry her wherever you want me to."

"Sure." Sam quickly returned to the Impala and gently pulled Sophie out of the back, shutting the door and carrying her back up to the house. When Dean saw her, he was still shocked at the magic Cas had worked on her, all of her bruises and cuts gone. He'd experienced the healing touch of Cas many times before in his life, but it was still bizarre seeing it on someone else. She looked perfectly healthy, which she was.

Dean stayed downstairs as Steve retreated into the house and Sam followed, climbing a winding staircase and turning down a hallway which led to a large, yet bland, room. The walls were painted a light beige, the large king sized bed covered with a light blue comforter, the furniture a simple dark wood. It almost looked like a hotel room. Not a teenage girl's room.

Sam had to voice the sentiment. "This is Sophie's room?" he asked.

Steve nodded. "Yeah."

Sam softly put her down on the bed. "You guys will get out of here as soon as she wakes up, won't you?"

"We'll do our best," Steve responded.

Sam didn't feel convinced. And he wasn't liking Steve Gentry very much at all. And he certainly wasn't liking the idea of leaving his newfound niece with the guy. But still, Dean's inarguably truthful words rang in his ears, and he left her there, exiting the room with Steve in tow.

They got back downstairs, where Dean was staring at a particularly exotic looking plant sitting on a table. He poked it, and then withdrew his hand when he saw Sam and Steve approaching. "She all settled in?"

Sam nodded and Steve just looked rushed.

"Well, thank you for bringing her in. I'll make sure I do what's best for her."

Dean and Sam nodded. "You mind if we check in on her?" Sam asked unexpectedly. "I don't know when we'll be back in town, but we, uh, just want to make sure she's doing well."

Steve shook his head. "That won't be necessary. Besides, you told me to move us down to Florida, and I doubt you'll be in the neighborhood then. Well, I'm sorry, but if you'd excuse me, I've got a meeting to attend in forty-five minutes across town and I can't be late."

Before they knew it, they were being ushered out of the house, and as they made their way to the Impala, Steve jumped into his Mercedes-Benz and zipped out of the driveway.

Sam turned to Dean. "He's a dick."

"I know."

"We can't just leave her with him."

Dean grew frustrated. "Sam, we talked about this. Like, a million times! Yeah, he's a dick, and I hate him probably more than you do, but at least with him she's alive!"

Sam was shaking his head as he opened the door to the Impala. "Dean. He just learned his stepdaughter didn't die a horrible, brutal death like her friend, and he dumps her unconscious body in her bed and drives off to a meeting. It's wrong."

"It sucks. And I hate it. You think I don't? I'm making the tough choices here, Sam." He opened the door to the driver's side. "C'mon, we're going."

Sam wanted to argue, but he knew an useless fight when he saw one. He slid in by Dean, who was already in the driver's seat, and who was clearly not in the mood for conversation. He turned the volume up on his stereo, and Metallica's "Enter Sandman" began to play, and Sam knew that, for now, there was no going back.

**Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long to update, it's been a busy couple of weeks! More ahead soon! Favorite, follow, review! ~ Lacey :)**


	13. Chapter 13: Decisions

_Chapter 13: Decisions_

It had been a month. A month since finding and saving Sophie, a month since cloaking her from evil and dropping her off with her deadbeat stepfather.

Sam and Dean had stuck around long enough to make sure that Steve did indeed take Sophie to their house in Florida, and then they'd headed off for a case in Texas.

Dean was noticeably different, but it only took one mention of Sophie's name for Sam to learn that the whole thing was a topic best left untouched. Whenever she crossed his mind, he grew sullen and moody, and he avoided any possible case involving children of any kind. Something about him had changed, in way he certainly didn't understand.

All he knew was, despite his deep belief she was safer without him, he missed Sophie.

He didn't really know why. He'd known her for all of twenty-four hours, maybe a little bit more. But for some reason, in that time he'd felt something there, a pull towards her, like he was meant to be in her life. Or maybe she was meant to be in his. Either way, abandoning her, despite the logical argument he'd made for it, felt wrong. Deep inside his bones, he knew he made the wrong decision.

But still, he'd made it, and he wasn't going to go back on it.

They were tracking down a possible vengeful spirit in Iowa when Sam found the courage to bring up Sophie again. "Hey, Dean?" he asked over the top of his laptop. Dean was taking a big bite out of a double cheeseburger, and he looked up at his brother, clearly annoyed that his meal was being interrupted.

"What?" he asked, his mouth full of half-chewed food.

Sam tried his best not to look disgusted. "I was just wondering…maybe we should check on Sophie."

Dean glared at Sam, quickly swallowing the food in his mouth and setting the burger down. "Why?"

"Because," Sam reasoned. "The last time we saw her, she may or may not have had a supernatural army after her."

"And we made sure she and Steve got to their house in Florida. And Cas made sure they weren't followed. That's the most we can do."

Sam frowned. "No, it's actually the least we can do, and you know it."

"Sam, we're not having this conversation."

"Fine," Sam gave in. "Then you stay and solve this case. I'll go by myself."

"What?" Dean exclaimed. "No, Sam, you agreed to do this with me!"

Sam closed his laptop angrily. "Yeah, well, now I'm not. Maybe you can just leave her with that asshole forever, but I can't."

Dean looked around, getting annoyed that everyone in the diner they were at was looking over at them. "Sam, c'mon, stop being you for just a moment and think about this."

"I've thought about it, Dean!" Sam exclaimed. "I've thought about it for a month. And this life we live...this crappy, dark, dangerous, sad life…it doesn't usually allow us any happiness. Sophie was your one chance at that. Hell, she was _my _one chance at it. I don't care if it's selfish or risky! I want to give us a shot at finding a real purpose on this earth."

Dean soaked in Sam's words. As much as he didn't want them to, they struck a chord deep within him. He tried not to let it show, covering his emotion with glares. "Let's entertain the thought that I'm willing to get her away from her dick of a stepfather. What are we supposed to do with her? Cart her around with us while we fight monsters? Settle down and play daddy and creepy uncle in a house with a white picket fence with a teenage girl we both barely know? You know we can't do either of those. We don't exactly have many options."

"I know that, Dean," Sam said, exasperated. "I've given it some thought, and I think she could stay at the Men of Letters den. She'd be around us whenever we go back there, which is pretty frequently, and she could still have a relatively stable housing situation where she doesn't have to get sucked into the life of hunting. I even checked, and there's a high school a little ways away, she'd just need a car. She'd be away from Steve, able to work up a sense of independence, live a relatively normal life for a daughter of a hunter. And…and maybe you'd get to know her better. Whether or not you say it, I know you want to."

Dean was silent as he considered everything Sam said. "And, what? We leave her to live alone for weeks on end when we're out hunting? Is that even legal?"

"Since when have you cared about legality?" Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. "Since when have you been all family-man?"

"C'mon, poke more holes in my plan. I'm willing to try to figure out something. Even if all we can do is find her somewhere else that's not with the stepdad she seems to hate."

"I just…I don't know, Sam."

Sam looked at Dean, frustrated. "When are you going to admit that you're acting all cagey because you're scared of getting to know her, not because you're scared of not being able to protect her?"

"Wouldn't it scare you just a little bit, Sam, especially with our track record of getting our loved ones killed?" Dean fired back. "Since when has letting anyone into our lives done them or us any favors?"

"Stop thinking like a hunter for just one second, Dean," Sam said, staring at Dean with hard eyes. "Just once…think like a man who just learned he has a daughter, a daughter who is confused and terrified and living with someone who hates her."

Dean let the thoughts run through his brain, and for the first time since hearing the vampire Sebastian claim that Sophie was his daughter, he tried to be honest with himself.

Would life be a hell of a lot more difficult with a daughter? Yes.

Would he, and Sophie, for that matter, be better off never knowing each other? Probably.

Would he, if he completely booted her out of his life, be able to forget that inexplicable pull towards her, the one that told him that he had to protect her, be there for her, love her? Probably not.

Did he want her in his life? He was starting to think he did.

What was stopping him, holding him back?

"Look," Sam started again, "I know you're scared that she might get hurt and the blame will fall on us, but—"

"Sam, stop it. Do you think I'm that selfless?" Dean said, a little bit louder than he probably intended, judging by some of the looks he got from those around them. He brought his voice down lower. "Not to go all low-budget Hallmark movie on you here, but has it occurred to you that maybe I'm a little bit terrified of how much _she_ could hurt _me_?"

Sam looked genuinely shocked. "Hurt you? Dean, she's, like, ninety pounds. She couldn't hurt you if she tried."

"You know what I mean, Sam. If I let her become a part of my life, and then something happens and she gets hurt or goes away or worse…how am I going to hold up?"

Sam leaned back in his chair. "Listen to yourself. Do you think every parent has all the answers right off the bat? Just grow a pair and let's go get her."

And with that, something in Dean crumbled, and he gave in. "Fine. What the hell. We'll go."

Sam clearly was trying to suppress the surprise he felt at actually being able to convince Dean to go. "Really?"

"Don't make me second guess this, Sammy," Dean grumbled, taking a long drink of his soda. He desperately wished it was alcohol instead.

"I won't," Sam said, grinning. "We'll leave tomorrow."

**Thanks as always for reading! More to come soon! Favorite, follow, review...you know the drill, lovelies! ~ Lacey :)**

**PS-I know this was a bit of a dramatic, angsty chapter, but I tried to think of the kind of feelings and logistics the Winchesters would have to sift through if they were actually presented with this situation. This chapter was mainly to show A) The brothers make the decision to include Sophie in their lives, B) They acknowledge there's going to be some lifestyle changes to go along with it, and C) They think she's worth it all.**


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